Had Chuck & Susanne B. aboard today. Following the same game plan as yesterday with Chris and Zach, we started in the river on the last of the falling tide. And again it was one heck of a belly washer of a ebb tide.
Big difference was the CHANGE in wind. I haven't seen wind that hard in a few weeks. Being from the west at what seemed to be 10-15 knots with the occasional 20 gust thrown in for good measure. It wreaked havoc for some people right off the "git-go" in the morning at the boat ramp.
WHY, you ask? Because the week end crowd is #1: impatient, and #2: it all ME, ME, ME.
Or they just don't pay attention to the conditions. The boat ramp(s) had not much water. The ebb tide, along with the west wind was pushing the water out the river hard. So instead of waiting their turn, I saw people using the side ramps.
They should have seen the boat ramp before the new one was built. We used to have to get in line and wait your turn. We all have it made now compared to back then. Even though the new ramp gets all sanded in on the sides and IS NOT the 6 boat boat ramp they intended it to be, it's only a two boat boat ramp with all the sand. But people back down o0n the sand anyhow, and then get stuck. They should know better by now.
Trucks stuck in the sand, trailers falling into holes, it was a real cinematic moment.
Boats running down the side of mine....not a fiberglass friendly maneuver. People pushing the boat off their trailer without starting the motor first, and boats being blow up onto the concrete
because of the wind. Really fun stuff to watch.
We departed at 8am, that's why I got to see so much of the follies.
Of course because it was a weekend. I pulled up to where I wanted to go over float-rig fishing with my crew out of the wind and there was already a boat there, bottom fishing. If we could have gotten in there we could have caught some Trout, like yesterday.
So I opted for another area where the current was a bit too strong, but a good acclimation spot, to show them what to do. Susanne was new to the fishing game. So I wanted to go over everything. Chuck, he fished with me once before last year.
The wind was a bit of a bear. But after awhile she got the hang of it. So we moved on. Next spot
way too windy, but lets give it a try. And that's where Susanne caught her first small Trout.
The bites were very lean. Something (the wind I believe) had really changed the whole attitude of the day compared to yesterday.
So we headed to the jetties.
Anchoring on a dime, like I usually do was really hard. I was getting blown all over the place. The wind out in the open was unruly and making it very difficult for me to position the boat just right, seeing I had a beginner bait caster on board. So pitchin' flipping and putting the float 25 feet away from the boat was something that wasn't going to happen. Boat placement becomes very important.
We got bites, but they were Mangrove Snapper bites, blenny bites and basically Lil' fish bites. The current pushed by the breeze was roaring. I certainly wasn't going to give up though. This is the spot, and we're gonna fish it. So after one attempt after another I kept working on getting the boat positioned where I needed it. And the tide got high and slowed down.
First came some of those big Mangrove Snappers, 12-15 inches.....and if you can hook them, you can catch anything. So we were doing good. A small Redbass or two. But still there really wasn't much action at all. The tattle-tale fish, like Jacks and Ladyfish weren't even here. Saw maybe one or two small Tarpon, and no schools of mullet, like yesterday.
THERE WAS A BIG CHANGE, TODAY.
So we just kept working the are hard. I had confidence something would turn around. Putting in your time and being patient, is all we could do. A few good fish were hooked and lost. But as conditions improved is when a few bites came from decent fish.
A 4 pound Black Drum. Was added to the fish box along with the Mangrove Snappers.
This was Susanne's largest fish ever.
Then, I a few more large Mangroves, again. One hooked Cow nosed Ray foul hooked, and then the fish we were looking for.
A 27 inch Redbass! This one kinda whooped her, and good!
By now live shrimp were getting mighty lean out of our 10 dozen, so we used up the rest of the shrimp Chuck hooked a big fish that got off, I boxed a Mangrove, then Chuck boxed a Mangrove and we headed in to clean the catch.
We ended up with 5 Mangroves, the Red, and the Black Drum, tossing back a small Red or two and a small Trout. Whewwwww....I was whooped! Each day has it's challenges, but today really took it out of me. And the wind was to blame.
Next up: A one person trip on Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday. No one around, back to my my kind of day. Then, a kids trip on Wednesday, then a whole family on Thursday.
